Working conditions of Nepali workers in Poland and Romania - The Kathmandu Post stories

Now many Nepali youths are going to Poland and Romania for work. I found two pieces on The Kathmandu Post's website exclusively on Poland and Romania which could help prospective workers to know more about these countries. Things are way different in reality from what recruiters tell you here. So, it's always advisable to do your own homework and see if the country is really appropriate for you. Click the links below to know about the working conditions in the respective countries. 

Poland

Nepali migrant workers find themselves entangled in Poland’s red tape

Romania

The road to Romania is bumpy and once there, workers are exploited too

The stories reveal that, It is very difficult to save up and send money back home from Poland. Living condition is also poor with 4 workers sharing the same room. Agents are charging workers up to NPR 5 to 13 lakhs carrying out informal transactions thereby making it difficult to prove fraud.

The article also mentions that, the the case of Poland the salary is way less than what recruiters in Nepal tell NPR 60,000 (vs NPR 275,800, amount manpower agents say that workers will get in Poland). Actually, workers get PLN 2,000 and agents in Nepal, in order to trick workers into applying, say that they would get 2,000 Euros in Poland, which is very misleading.

Moreover, the article also mentions that red tape is a major challenge for Nepali workers in Poland. If you want to change your job, you need to apply for a new work permit, and that, in Poland's case take months.

As for Romania, the TKP story suggests that workers are exploited with them having to work many hours more than what is mentioned in the contract. Although, Romanian hiring companies pay commissions to agents and airfare for the workers, deceptive manpower agents make workers pay a large sum (almost NPR 5 lakhs) of additional money as well. In Romania Nepali workers are working as much as 12-hours, without even taking toilet breaks and after pandemic, some workers have not been paid for four months. There's no labour agreement between Nepal and Romania. Some agencies also give false promises of PR  and provisions to bring families to Romania to workers. Read the full story clicking the link above.

How much money a Nepali student loses if his/her Canadian student visa gets rejected?

Photo by
Karolina Grabowska
 from Pexels

 Now there's a fad for applying abroad without weighing in the pros and cons of it and possible financial damages it can cause. For most consultancies and agents students are milch cows and they only care about the money. There are some consultancies/agents, who genuinely care about students and provide genuine and expert guidance and only take applications that have good odds of succeeding, tell students clearly about everything beforehand and let students make an informed decision. Clearly, such consultancies/agents deserve respect.

It is important that students know how much money they will lose in the processing if their student visa to Canada is denied. Here's the tentative amount, given by a student. It might vary, and be even more depending on your case.

1. Consultancy Charge (if you use one) - NPR 25,000 (Twenty-five thousand).
2. Offer Letter Charge - NPR 5,000 (Five thousand)
3. Certificates from Ward Office: NPR 11,000 (Eleven thousand : varies from one ward to another)
4. No Objection Letter: NPR 2,000 (Two thousand)
5. Translation (of Lalpurja and other income related documents that are in Nepali) and notary costs : NPR 5,000 -NPR 10,000 (Five to Ten Thousand)
6. CA Audit Report cost: NPR 2,500 (Two thousand five hundred).
7. Bank Balance Certificate with income source : NPR 50,000 (Fifty Thousand) (If you intend to take a loan, add interest for the loan).
8. VFS Charges
   DEMAND DRAFT 
   Student visa: INR 7,890 = NPR 12,624
   Biometric Fees: INR 4,470 = NPR 7152
   VFS Processing Charges = NPR 1000 (learn about the current charges from VFS)
9. Nepal Government Tax (2%) + Bank Charges while sending fees of 6 months to Canada: NPR 15,500
10. Administration Charges deduction by university while reimbursing (refunding) tuition fees including money transfer costs: Almost NPR-60,000-70,000 (Sixty to seventy thousand) 
    
    There will be a lot of hidden charges as well like travel expenses and other. So altogether, an applicant will lose around NPR 2 Lakhs 50 thousand to 3 lakhs, if his/her visa gets rejected. It's a huge sum and applicant needs to be prepared for it. 
    
    I have not taken into account the IELTS fee charged by British Council Nepal which is NPR 23,000 for Paper-Based test and NPR 21,500 for Computer-delivered test and Passport charge for first passport NPR 10,000 if taken from Department of Passports in 3 days because you can use those documents later as well. However please note that IELTS Test Score has a 2-year validity, and you need to retake the test if you decided to apply after 2 years.
    
    Please write a comment below if I am missing any and to update the new changes in the fees and others.
    
    Check this out too if you have not yet. (Document Checklist for Canada). 
    https://nepalihal.blogspot.com/2021/04/list-of-documents-required-for-nepali.html
    

Indian Embassy Kathmandu - Assistant Post - Written Examination Experience of a candidate

I had applied for the position of an assistant in the Indian Embassy by Email. Because that time due to pandemic situation, Embassy of India, which would normally ask for paper application, had entertained online applications. I sent my Cover Letter, CV, academic documents and a passport size photograph to the email provided. Normally, vacancies are published on national newspapers and Embassy of India, Kathmandu's official website. I hope my experience helps you get a general idea of how the exam is conducted in Embassy of India, Kathmandu, Nepal. 

I had applied in January, and I got called for the written exam regarding that job in April. Hence it can be  understood that hiring process is rather long.

I received a call from an individual from the Embassy. He told me to come at Kendriya Vidhyalaya for the exam with my Citizenship card at 10:30 am.

Until that point, I did not know anything about the format of the exam. I did not even know whether to dress formally or casually.

Hence, I decided to dress semi-formally and went for the exam. There was airport-like security check-up in the main entrance of Kendriya Vidhyala. I was required to enter my name in the ledger and then I was told to go to the main exam building inside the main gate.

When I went there there were invigilators to receive us. They directed me to the exam room. There were already some examinees seated. The vacancy announcement was for two positions of Assistant and there were almost 20-30 examinees.

Before the exam started, they checked my ID card to verify I am the genuine applicant.

The exam lasted for like 30-45 minutes. And all the questions were multiple choice questions covering subject matters such as English, Mathematics, IQ, Computer and GK. For every correct answer we would get 3 points and 1 point penalty for every incorrect answer. 

For the English section first question was, if I remember correctly, changing from active voice to passive voice and the sentence given was

We must endure what we cannot change

There were four options given, I do not remember them all but I circled the box
What cannot be cured must be endured.

Second question was on synonym. I was asked the synonym of ‘dubious’ to which I answered ‘doubtful’.

Third question was on antonym of the word 'Futile' and my answer was fruitful. Also, there were 2 questions based on English Idioms and their meanings. First idiom was “In high spirits” and its meaning and I forgot the second idiom, I couldn’t answer its meaning as well.

Then IQ questions were asked. From what I remember there was one question about finding how is A related to B is A is C’s mother and so on.

Here’s the sample question I copied from the internet so that you get an idea. For more such questions visit this site. Logical Question.

A is B’s brother. C is D’s father. E is B’s mother. A and D are brothers. How is E related to C?
a) Sister b)Sister-in-law c)Niece d)Wife

I suppose there were two questions on relations.

And there was also a question on direction like the following question.

A man walks 5Km towards north and then turn to the right. After walking 3Km he turns to the left. Now in which direction is he facing?
A. North B. South C. West D. East


Another question was like this 9 * 12 = 36
9* 15 = 15 and we needed to find out an unknown value. And one was about number sequence. Visit this site to learn similar problems HERE.

As for mathematics, there were questions covering various topics like Area and volume of a cylinder, Equations and inequalities, proportion.

And 2 questions were like x men can finish work in 10 days and y women can finish the same work in 20 days..
Example 2 men and 3 women can do a piece of work in 10 days while 3 men and 2 women can do the same work in 8 days. Then, 2 men and 1 women can do the same work in ……

And I guess there was also a mathematical / Physics related question about angle of observation or something, which I don’t remember clearly.

From computer section, the questions covered the basic knowledge about computer. Like who is the founder of WWW, and another question read

The process of transferring files from a computer on the Internet to your computer is called

A) Downloading, B) Uploading C)FTP d)downsizing

And the last one question was from GK, which was, what’s the name of the only novel written by Laxmi Prasad Devkota?, and the Correct answer was Champa.

IELTS Writing - Sample 9 (Before and after map)

 This questions comes from Cambridge IELTS book 9.

The two maps below show an island, before and after the construction of some tourist facilities.

Image:-Ielts-mentor.com

The diagrams illustrate some changes to a small island which has been developed for tourism.

It is clear that the island has changed considerably with the introduction of tourism, and six new features can be seen in the second diagram. The main developments are that the island is accessible and visitors have somewhere to stay.

Looking at the maps in more detail, we can see that small huts have been built to accommodate visitors to the island. The other physical structures that have been added are a reception building, in the middle of the island, and a restaurant to the north of the reception. Before these developments, the island was completely bare apart from a few trees.

As well as the buildings mentioned above, the new facilities on the island include a pier, where boats can dock. There is also a short road linking the pier with the reception and restaurant, and footpaths, connect the huts. Finally, there is a designated swimming area for tourists off a beach on the western tip of the island.

(175 words, band 9)